4.24.2012

pearl snap potential

I've been making quite a few of my Pearl Snap earrings these past days, which has left me with all the leftover parts of the pearl snaps that aren't used to make the earrings.

There are 4 parts that make up every snap, 2 for each side of the snap. The pretty pearly part and it's fastener, then the snapping bit and it's fastener.

Since I've only been using the pearly bit, that leaves me with 3 left over pieces to every single earring....adds up to a lot of random odds and ends really quick!

Yesterday I started trying figure out some other uses for the leftover pearl snap parts, since I will likely be accumulating mass amounts of them...

First off, I started with the pronged fastener...this one reminded me of basic studs so I decided to apply them to one of my shirts as if they were normal ones!

I grabbed one of my old denim shirts and lined them along the pocket edges and attached them just like normal studs (& I got some good tips from A Beautiful Mess ).

Once you pick their placement, push the prongs through the fabric to the other side (if the fabric is really thick you may have to cut holes with an exact-o blade). I don't have a fancy fastener machine so a small pair of pliers worked just fine to bend the prongs inward. (although I did mess it up a couple of times...)

So, pronged fasteners make nice simple circle studs...on to the the round fasteners, which was an even simpler solution: make a necklace!

I took one of my plain silver chains and just threaded a bunch of them on to it and voila! A simple little necklace! When I get a bunch of them, I would like to make a bracelet similar to this sequin bracelet DIY.

I've already found that the pearly parts make lovely earrings but now I'm left with the oddest looking of all the parts....and I'm at a loss of what to do with them!

Any suggestions for these strange little snap parts? Do you have any projects you've incorporated pearl snaps into?